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‘Say No’ was the clear message sent to the powers-that-be recently, spelt out literally by hundreds of concerned locals protesting about proposed sandmining off the Bream Bay coastline.
Around 1500 people attended the rally at Ruakaka Beach on January 26 to send a strong message to officials involved in the fast-track process and Auckland excavation company McCallum Brothers that the extraction of seabed sand was not welcome in the bay.
Stop Sandmining Ruakaka/Bream Bay (SRB) organiser Emma Hart said the energy was “electric”.
“One group member, who previously worked on a sand dredge in Sydney, spoke at the rally of his experiences and when you hear firsthand how they dredged up birds, eggs and anything in their path, it’s shocking,” she says. “People were visibly upset.”
Hart reported record-breaking support for SRB, with 12,000 signatures collected in just 10 weeks on both online and paper petitions.
With fast-track applications now being accepted, a new community group has also joined the fight against McCallum and has called out the proposal’s economic and regional importance.
Save Bream Bay Sand (SBBS) spokesperson – Langs Beach local, conservationist and businessman – Bruce Copeland says the key reasons for the Bream Bay and Pakiri consent applications was the claim that they would deliver economic benefits and concrete sustainability.
“In both cases, they are incomplete, exaggerated or wrong,” he said.
“It is perplexing why this project even made the fast-track list. There is no economic value to Northland and questionable economic value to Auckland, What is apparent is a significant financial benefit to the applicant. It’s not fair and it doesn’t make sense.”
McCallum Brothers chief executive Shayne Elstob says the company is aware of the recent Ruakaka protest and acknowledged that, like many extractive industry proposals, there was public interest in the project.
“At this point, we are still working through the process of finalising our Assessments of Effects for the Bream Bay application,” he says. “Once these are completed we will update them on our McCallum Bros website and we would implore any members of the public who are interested in the project to read the information it contains and review the frequently asked questions.”
For more information on the Bream Bay sandmining issue visit, Stop sandmining Bream Bay/Ruakaka facebook page and www.mccallumbros.co.nz
